Buglette Wins Book Trailer Salon
Last spring SF South held a book trailer salon with film professional Steve Marra. Those in attendance voted for the two top trailers. This month, we feature Bethanie Murguia’s book trailer for Buglette.
The audience noted Bethanie’s clever animation, appropriate sound and music and that viewers are directed to a website at the end.
Next up, we’ll feature Eve Aldridge’s winning trailer.
Lindsey Manwell won the Golden Gate Portfolio Prize at Asilomar 2011. Judged by David Weisner, Caldecott winning author-illustrator, Katherine Jacobs, Associate 
Editor at Roaring Brook and Namratha Tripathi, Executive Editor at Atheneum, the prize recognizes the most outstanding portfolio brought to the SCBWI conference held in February.
Since winning the award, Lindsey has joined with Adams Literary and has a book deal in the works.
Lindsey is a fifth generation Californian. Her family is from a small town called Maryseville. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and her Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University. When Lindsey is not illustrating or writing for children, she works on realist oil paintings.
She’s this year’s Artist Laureate for litworld.org, where her illustrations have reached children across the world who are learning to read.
She believes deeply in LitWorld’s philosophy that “words change worlds” and her hope is to use artistry to change worlds, however small those changes or worlds might be.
Currently she lives in San Francisco with her husband, Lane, who she thinks is pretty much the bee’s knees.
Join us for Illustrator’s Day September 10, 2011. Registration is now open.
Click below:
5th Annual SCBWI Illustrator Day powered by Eventbrite
Join us for a wonderful day on the San Francisco Bay to learning more about illustrating children’s books. We will be inspired, pick up new tips and tricks, learn more about the industry, meet and reunite with other children’s book illustrators, and have fun. Our portfolios will be viewed by art directors, editors, and agents. Watch our website for a link to registration, opening May 23.
Lunch Included
This year we have included lunch in the registration fee to provide folks time to visit with each other and with the faculty while dining. (No more waiting in line at Green’s.)
Art Director Illustrator Assignment (optional)
We have a new feature – an art director illustration assignment to do ahead of the conference. Sketches will be reviewed in advance by Joann Hill before the illustration is completed. This is optional, and we will all learn from the critiques of some of the finished illustrations at the conference. They will all be displayed. This is instead of First Look panel.
Speakers:
Joann Hill
Joann Hill is currently Art Director at Disney•Hyperion Books in
New York. During her career she has been fortunate to work with some amazing illustrators including David Wiesner, John Rocco, Betsy Lewin, Maggie Smith and Andrew Glass.
Linda Pratt
Linda Pratt is a literary agent at Wernick & Pratt Agency in New York. She and Marcia Wernick recently left the Sheldon Fogelman Agency to establish their own agency. Linda represents both authors and illustrators. Her clients include LeUyen Pham, Margaret Chodos-Irvine, Robert Neubecker, Angela Dominguez, Richard Peck, Denise Brunkus, Kathryn Erskine among many others. Two of her clients have debuts coming out in Spring 2012: Augusta Scattergood with GLORY BE (Scholastic) and Lisa Luedeke with SMASHED (Margaret K. McElderry Books/S&S).
Andrew Glass
Andrew Glass is an author and illustrator of books of fact and fiction about American folk history including The Wondrous Whirligig published by Holiday House. He has illustrated many books by other authors including The Erie Canal Pirates by Eric Kimmel. Andrew lives in Manhattan with his beautiful wife and lovely daughter.
Portfolio Critiques available with:
Joann Hill
Linda Pratt
Andrew Glass
John Clapp – Associate Professor at San Jose State University
Abigail Samoun – Agent at Red Fox Literary (formerly Editor at Tricycle)
Dana Goldberg – Editor at Children’s Book Press
Kristine Brogno - Art Director at Chronicle Books
Renee Ting – Publisher Shen’s Books
Portfolio Display
All attendees are welcome to bring a portfolio to display in the portfolio room. Business cards, postcards and dummies are strongly encouraged. Faculty will have a private viewing of all portfolios, and will mark the piece in each portfolio they think would make the strongest promotional mailer.
Illustration Assignment
All attendees are invited to participate in an optional illustration project assigned and critiqued by Joann Hill. More information will be provided after registering for the conference. No extra charge.
Afternoon at the Movies – May 14
Our final SF South Saturday for this year will be May 14, 4 – 6 pm. It’s the OOPS (Out of Print Salon) at the First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, 1985 Louis Rd. in Palo Alto.
We’ll snack first: wine, Red Vines and popcorn! What goes better with watching movies?
Then we’ll watch book trailers, made by you all. Steve Marra will MC and give us pointers along the way for making our own book trailers. At the end we’ll vote for our favorites and those will be loaded up here for everyone to view.
Come and participate! Bring a trailer, or just yourself and a friend. This event is FREE for members, $10 for non-members at the door – no need to pre-register.
Sometimes New York makes a mistake. Whether by simple – yet careless – oversight, unfortunate release timing, or the rapid fluctuations of editorial staff, the publishing industry occasionally allows an otherwise, fabulous, groundbreaking and/or delightful book to go out of print, or publisher to wrongfully close.
Perhaps you are the author of that book. Or, perhaps your book is published by a recently closed Publisher, like Tricycle Press (Random House).
Here is your chance to make your case to the world. Make a book trailer, under 60 seconds, promoting your Out Of Print Star or Tricycle Press book. Who knows, maybe NY will see the err of it’s ways. (Professionally produced trailers are ineligible for this salon.)
If you are planning to bring a trailer, please email kristinakerhowell@comcast.net . for details and to get on The List.
Steve Marra
After spending years as a Silicon Valley VP of Marketing, Steve was able to pursue what he wanted to be doing all along….make films! In the past few years Steve has made documentaries for his home town of Portola Valley about the building of the town center and Investigative Learning.
Steve has done commercials as well as music videos including a recent video about the Doors for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Steve believes with the advent of contemporary technology, that we are all now able to create videos. Steve’s current film project has a working title of “BigFoot in Portola Valley”.
Join us for panel discussions on timely topics in children’s literature followed by wine, snacks and networking with your local SCBWI colleagues. $10 for SCBWI members, $15 for non-members
April 9, 2011, 4 – 6 pm
Our panelists:
Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award Winning Author,
Rita Williams-Garcia (via Skype) and
Abigail Samoun
Will address multiculturalism.
We live in a culturally rich place. We want our kid’s literature to be representative and inclusive. We also want to be authentic in our art. How can we represent cultures to which we do not belong? How can art help? When does art hurt? How can we tell the difference in our own art? Can we?
First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, 1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto
$10 Members, $15 non-members
Rita Williams-Garcia (via Skype)
Author of four award winning novels, Rita Williams-Garcia continues to break new ground in young people’s literature. Known for their realistic portrayal of teens of color, Williams-Garcia’s works have been recognized by the Coretta Scott King Award Committee, Scott O’Dell Historical Award Committee, the John A. Newbery Committee, The National Book Award Panel, PEN Norma Klein, American Library Association, and Parents’ Choice, among others. She served on the National Book Award Committee for Young People’s Literature and is on faculty at Vermont College MFA Writing for Children and Young People.
Abigail Samoun
Abigail Samoun has worked in children’s publishing for over a decade.
During that time she’s edited board books, picture books,
middle-grade, and early young-adult novels for Tricycle Press, Random
House, Simon & Schuster, and Little, Brown. These include the SCBWI
Golden Kite winner George Hogglesberry: Grade School Alien; the 2008
Pura Belpre Honor winner, What Can You Do with a Rebozo?; the
Smithsonian Notable young adult novel, Shifty; and the New York Public
Library Ezra Jack Keats award-winner, Yesterday I Had the Blues.
Abigail also edited the middle grade series Edgar & Ellen which has
sold over a quarter of a million copies worldwide and launched a
cartoon series on Nickelodeon.
Questions? Email kristinakerhowell@comcast.net
Brought to you by SCBWI San Francisco South
Michelle Chi’s quiet childhood was filled with the practice of calligraphy. She grew up as an only child in Qingdao City, China. Surrounded by colorful storybooks, she knew that picture books would always fascinate her. Early academic training in art school brought her valuable artistic foundations and disciplines.
In 2003, she moved to America. She then enrolled in California State Polytechnic University Pomona to continue her study of fine arts. Studying there shed light on a new vision. She started to appreciate the art of illustration and realized her potential to fulfill her childhood dream – illustrating books for children and young adults.
In 2009, her artistic training was elevated by achieving the Master of Fine Arts degree in illustration from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Michelle is a member of National Watercolor Society. She lives and works in the Bay Area as an illustrator and a professional fine artist. Her work has gained recognition from Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles. Her paintings have been influenced by her early practice of calligraphy and have been refined many times over. She constantly strives for higher levels of skill and character.
SF South Saturday – January 22
SCBWI SF South Saturday,
January 22, 2011, 4 – 6 pm
Fostering Creative Community:
NYT best-selling author Ellen Hopkins (via Skype) and
Literary Agent Laura Rennert
First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, 1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto
$10 Members, $15 non-members
Join us for panel discussions on timely topics in children’s literature followed by wine, snacks and networking with your local SCBWI colleagues.
Virtual Communities/The Internet
Our communities are expanding rapidly. With the internet, our boundaries have widened beyond our imagination. We have direct access to our teen audience. And, through teachers and parents, our younger audiences. What are the possibilities? What are authors doing not only to promote books, but to create art? And, to create community? What are the responsibilities? What boundaries should we consider, for ourselves and for our readers?
Ellen Hopkins, New York Times Best-Selling Author
Ellen Hopkins is a poet, freelance writer and award-winning author of twenty non-fiction titles and seven New York Times Bestselling novels-in-verse. She has published hundreds of articles on subjects ranging from aviation to child abuse to winegrowing. Ellen mentors other writers through her position as regional advisor for the Nevada chapter of the SCBWI. She is a regular speaker at schools, book festivals and writers conferences across the US, and now throughout the world. Learn more about her outreach to teens at http://www.ellenhopkins.com.
Laura Rennert, Senior Agent, Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Laura Rennert is a Senior Agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She’s been with the agency since 1998, and thinks of herself as a “literary omnivore.” She specializes in all categories of children’s books, from picture books to young adult. She represents award-winning and best selling authors, including New York Times bestsellers Ellen Hopkins, Jay Asher, and Maggie Stiefvater, and National Book Award Finalist Kathleen Duey, as well as brand new, first-time authors.
Laura’s work as a literary agent is enhanced by her having been on both sides of the table. She’s the author of a picture book, BUYING, TRAINING, AND CARING FOR YOUR DINOSAUR (Knopf), illustrated by Marc Brown, creator of Arthur, the star of many picture books and a six-time Emmy Award-winning PBS TV show. She is also the author of a series of highly illustrated books for young readers, EMMA, THE EXTRA-ORDINARY PRINCESS, forthcoming with Dutton in 2012. Laura has a Ph.D. in English Literature and nine years of experience teaching as a faculty member in English Departments of the University of Virginia, Osaka University of Foreign Studies, and Santa Clara University. She speaks at writers’ conferences, book festivals, and writers’ workshops throughout the country and overseas, and believes she has the best job in the world.
Registration opens on Monday, Nov 1 @ noon.
Golden Gate Conference at Asilomar 2011
The 28th Annual SCBWI Golden Gate Conference and Retreat will be held at Asilomar from February 25-27, 2011.
Over the years, the Asilomar conference has gained a reputation as one of the best intimate gatherings of authors and illustrators. Recent speakers include Newbery-winning authors Gary Schmidt, Jacquelyn Woodson, Christopher Paul Curtis, Karen Cushman, Linda Sue Park, Lois Lowry, and Paul Fleischman, and Caldecott-winning illustrators Gerald McDermott, David Diaz, and Betsy and Ted Lewin.
The conference is limited to a small group of approximately 125 people. The Asilomar grounds are on the Pacific Ocean near Monterey Bay in Northern California, two hours south of San Francisco. Many of the Asilomar buildings are historic, and the famous dining hall, designed by Julia Morgan, provides a friendly, personal gathering place for conference attendees and speakers. You can see the conference grounds in more depth at www.visitasilomar.com. Our focus for this year’s conference is technology as it relates to children’s books.
Registration will open November 1, 2010.
This year’s faculty includes:
David Wiesner, Author/Illustrator, Keynote
David Wiesner has been awarded the Caldecott Medal three times – for Tuesday in 1992, The Three Pigs in 2002, and Flotsam in 2006. Two other books of his, Sector 7 and Free Fall, were named Caldecott Honor Books. In 2008, David was the United States nominee, and a finalist, for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Cynthia Lord, Author, Keynote
Cynthia Lord’s debut novel, RULES, was a New York Times Bestseller and has received numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor and the Schneider Family Book Award. A former elementary and middle-school teacher, Cynthia also spent a year teaching on a Maine island, which is the setting for her second novel, TOUCH BLUE, which released in August and was named an IndieNext Top Ten book for Autumn 2010. She is also the author of HOT ROD HAMSTER, a Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller and a Parents’ Choice Recommended picture book. She lives with her husband and her two children fifteen minutes from the ocean in Brunswick, Maine. You can visit Cindy on the web at www.cynthialord.com.
Rick Richter, President, CEO, and Chair, Ruckus Media Group
Mark Holmes, Art Director, Pixar Animation Studios
A 15-year veteran of Pixar Animation Studios, Mark Cordell Holmes has worked on many of Pixar’s films in various capacities, from character and environment sketch artist, to graphic designer, art director and production designer. In that time he has been fortunate enough to work with some of the industries strongest storytellers within one of the most unique and successful creative environments in animation history. For Mark, the privilege of designing for a visual storytelling medium has not only fulfilled a lifelong love for comics, movies, and books, but has also enriched his greatest passion, writing. Between juggling a full-time job, raising a family, teaching, pursuing personal artwork and photography, he has developed numerous screenplays and has written a literary fiction novel and the first novel in a three-part YA series.
Namrata Tripathi, Executive Editor, Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Namrata Tripathi is an Executive Editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers, and imprint of Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing. She acquires fiction and nonfiction picture books, middle grade and YA novels, and select graphic novels. She has had the pleasure of working with Ian Falconer, James Howe, Lane Smith, Judith Viorst, Christopher Myers, Rosemary Wells, and Jim Averbeck (whom she met at Asilomar) among others, including several wonderful debut authors and illustrators. She is interested in finding young, bold picture books and novels with a unique voice and diverse characters.
Katherine Jacobs, Associate Editor, Roaring Brook Press
Katherine Jacobs is an associate editor at Roaring Brook Press. Roaring Brook, founded in 2002, is a creative, innovative publisher of books for children of all ages, from toddlers to teens. The RB list includes Caldecott author/illustrators Eric Rohmann, Mordicai Gerstein, and Laura Vaccarro Seeger, as well as the popular Bad Kitty books by Nick Bruel. Katherine’s books include the chapter book series Gym Shorts by Betty Hicks, the middle-grade Cat Royal Adventure series by Julia Golding, nonfiction picture books books by Don Brown, Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara, and the forthcoming Long Story Short by Ireland’s first children’s book laureate, Siobhan Parkinson. She is also a graduate of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College in Boston, MA.
Courtney Bongiolatti, Editor, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Courtney Bongiolatti is an Associate Editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. She edits books of all ages, but mostly middle-grade boy and all young adult. Among the books she has edited are titles in the best-selling Private and Privilege series by Kate Brian, Smile for the Camera by Kelle James, Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs, Crave by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz, Lucky by Wes Tooke, and the H.I.V.E series by Mark Walden. Upcoming projects that she is excited to be editing are The Hunter Chronicles by Eric Patten, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, and Wildefire by Karsten Knight.
Arianne Lewin, Executive Editor, Putnam Books for Young Readers
Arianne Lewin is an executive editor at Putnam Books for Young Readers. Most recently she was senior editor at Hyperion, where she edited Cinda Williams Chima, Whoopi Goldberg, Julie Anne Peters, Laura Numeroff, and Amy Krouse Rosenthal, among others. Although she does have a special affinity for young adult fiction, Arianne does acquire books in all genres. Ms. Lewin will return to Asilomar this year to review manuscripts as our “Silent Editor.”
Josh Adams, Literary Agent, Adams Literary
Josh Adams, together with his wife Tracey, runs Adams Literary, a boutique literary agency exclusively representing children’s book authors and artists. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia Business School—where he studied finance and accounting, and was awarded the Abe Shuchman Memorial Award in Marketing—Josh spent more than a decade in publishing and media before bringing his editorial and business backgrounds together as a literary agent. You can find more at www.adamsliterary.com.
Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown, LTD.
Ginger Clark has been a literary agent with Curtis Brown, LTD. since the fall of 2005. She represents science fiction, fantasy, paranormal romance, literary horror, and young adult and middle grade fiction. In addition to representing her own clients, she also represents British rights for the agency’s children’s list. Previously, she worked at Writers House for six years as an assistant literary agent. Her first job in publishing was as an editorial assistant at Tor Books. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and a member of the Contracts Committee of the AAR. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. Ginger is taking on new clients.
Alexandria LaFaye, Author
Alexandria LaFaye is the author of novels for readers of all ages, many of whom choose her rich stories for book club discussions. Born in a small town in Wisconsin, reading gave her big dreams – she published her first novel before she was thirty! Her novel Worth won the 2005 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. With degrees in history, English, children’s literature, and creative writing, Alexandria enjoys speaking to students of all ages about reading, writing, and her life as an author.
Gianna Marino, Author/Illustrator
Gianna Marino was born in San Francisco and spent her early years galloping horses through Golden Gate Park. Her explorations expanded after graduating from high school and in order to afford her many journeys around the world, Gianna had several jobs at once: apprenticing a muralist, a jewelry designer, a product designer and driving horse carriages through the park. She finally landed a permanent position designing toys for children. But after one too many years in a corporate box with no windows, Gianna left for good and began writing and illustrating, telling stories from her personal life experience. Her first children’s book, Zoopa (Chronicle Books, 2005) was placed on the prestigious Texas 2×2 list and was nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Children’s Literature as one of the best works by a northern California author published in 2005. Her second book, One Too Many(Chronicle Books, 2010) is getting rave reviews. Gianna has three picture books coming out with Viking - Meet Me at the Moon (Spring 2012), Too Tall Houses (Fall 2012) and Whoosh (Spring 2013).
